Thursday, 13 December 2012

Do you want to know what I'll miss about England? I will miss our lovely little life here. I will miss the great and beautiful friends we made who helped us adjust to our new life, and helped us come to love it. I will miss the nearness of these friends, and the spontaneity that such proximity allowed. I will truly miss seeing my family whenever I wanted, and being able to have them come visit for an afternoon, or a weekend, or even a cup of tea.

I will deeply miss the simple little life our family enjoyed in Cambridge.

I started this rambly post about our last few days here in England, and then even I got bored with all the blah blah blah.

And I know everyone loves top 10 lists - but I'm too tired for 10 things, so please settle for 2 lists of 5.

Here are the top 5 Things I Will Miss About England:
5. Proximity to every cool European city, and cheap flight availability
4. Train travel and year-round bike travel
3. Going down the pub!!!
2. Hobnobs and Cadbury chocolates
1. Being so close to my grandmothers and aunts and uncles and cousins, and being able to see them whenever I wanted - and seeing Elizabeth make real relationships with all of them.

And here are the top 5 Things I Am Soooo Excited About Having/Doing Again in Canada
5. Going back to work on a semi-regular basis - I know, so weird, right?
4. Getting a house!!! And starting a garden, and having a basement for storage, and getting all our stuff from all our incredible friends and family who have been storing it for us. And all the stuff that "real life" entails - we have just hit the snooze button on real life for 2 years, and I am looking forward to being normal and rooted again.
3. SportsCentre!!! (Please let the NHL make an agreement, because no one wants to watch only basketball highlights for the whole show. No offense, Chris.)
2. Being close to family and friends again, and seeing my nieces whenever I want. And seeing Elizabeth make real relationships with her family members.
1. Warm bathrooms. For some weird reason, people here don't heat their bathrooms, and you have to keep your window open to prevent the evil limescale from growing, so you have that terrible goosepimply feeling when you get out of the shower. I am soooo excited for a warm bathroom again. And for sinks with single faucets with mixed hot & cold water so I can wash my hands with warm water instead of freezing cold or burning.

Sunday, 9 December 2012

Last week I had a going away 'do' with my girlfriends, and then Matthew had a going away night at the pub with his work colleagues. And Elizabeth had a last-time play at an indoor playground with all her best pals. Matthew's friends gave him a great night and a great gift - a pewter tankard with the University of Cambridge crest on one side, and engraved on the other side: "Dr Matthew Hawkeye: Gentleman, Scientist, Friend." So bloody nice, and so accurate!! My friends (and Elizabeth's friends' Mums, so technically her friends too) made me a completely wonderful picture book titled "Elizabeth's Cambridge Friends" that is just photographs of her and her pals from the last two years. It made me cry... a lot.

The week before last we were in Bognor Regis, visiting my Grandma. Elizabeth loves it there, and we had a really lovely weekend. And yesterday was a big Quinn party at the Birchwood pub to say goodbye to that whole side of the family. (Sidenote: the pub is basically next door to my Nan's house so we often go there for Sunday lunches when we visit her and it was an obvious choice for location for a goodbye party. Nanny doesn't drink at all, so it is therefore hilarious that anytime we talk to Elizabeth about going to see Nanny Jock, she says, "Oh yes, and we'll go to the pub.") The party was super fun and it was great to have a last chat with all the fam.

But how can you tell we are actually leaving Cambridge, for realsies?

I sold my bike today. I feel totally naked without a bike in this city. Here's one last shot of my ride for the past (almost) 2 years - Matthew is taking Elizabeth's seat off the back. Truth: I cried.

About Me

Our family moved to Cambridge on January 13, 2011. The following week, Matthew started a 2 year Research Fellowship in the Department of Physics at Cambridge University. Our daughter, Elizabeth, is now 9 months old, and both of us celebrated our 29th birthdays the month we moved. Who knows what lies ahead for us here in England?